You Don't Understand
by 5Star Fighter
Summary: Tifa was breaking inside. The girl who always smiled felt like she was looking at Cloud from afar. She was always jealous of the innocent flower girl who seemed to be stealing Cloud away. But she just can't see that Cloud feels the same way about her.
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

_In the blinding sunlight he looked around... not quite sure why or what; but he was looking for someone. The sunlight was making it harder for him to see, as if something was telling him to stop looking. To just stop looking for... HER._

_He squinted his eyes and caught the outline of a woman. Aeris? No... it can't be. Cloud slowly moved closer, making the familiar clomping sound of boots and rippling sound of leather being moved by the wind. As he moved closer the light got brighter and brighter. He put his hand over his eyes to block the sunlight as he still inched closer to that woman. _

_Her presence felt familiar... as if he'd known her for a long time. He squinted harder trying to figure out who that woman was. _

_He moved closer, and closer. He saw her outline move as if she turned around. She started to slowly move back and shaking her head slowly whilst looking at the rocky ground._

_Her voice was unrecognizable... it was shaky and broken._

_"I'm... not her. I will never be her... After you became hurt, and unsure, and lost... and after you met her, you didn't look at me the same. The same way you did before all of this. Instead you looked at her with that look... that I wanted to be mine. Selfish, right?"_

_He felt confused... he only looked at one woman a special way._

_He saw her tilt her head as if she was giving a reassuring smile. Her voice came back softer and sweeter._

_"J-Just trust me. Alright?" _

_Cloud unconsciously said "No. Don't do this." _

_Her voice came back again, coated in sorrow and hurt._

_"Everything is gonna be fine ok?" _

_A soft giggle coated the sorrow atmosphere with a little sadness and happiness._

_He ran towards her reaching his hand out trying to stop that woman... the light got brighter and brighter until he could see the outline of her no more. He leaned forward as if trying to catch something..._

_He couldn't see anything but his hand. Reaching, stretching... waiting for the feeling of the weight of another person.. waiting of the feeling to catch someone._

_The light became brighter and brighter._

**He woke up. **


	2. Chapter 1

Cloud sat up on his bed looking around. Next to him was his sword leaning on the big motorcycle and his delivery bag. He lolled his head squinting his tired eyes. Cloud arched his back forward and moved his knees to his chest, draping defined arms over his knees. He stared straight seeing nothing but the vast prairie. He looked down furrowing his eye brows. He thought about the dream.

"_Everything is going to be fine ok?"_

The spiky haired man looked up to the sky. _What was that dream about?_ he thought. Moving his legs under him he stood himself up.

Tifa slowly woke up on her bed opening her eyes to the empty bed that was next to hers. She swung her legs over the left side of the bed and went to look out the window. _Hey Cloud, you alright?_ She thought. A small smile formed on her face. She pulled her arms above her head in a pleasurable stretch. She relaxed her arms and let them fall to her sides. Her right hand went to her hip as she turned around to go check on Marlene and Denzel. She opened their door a crack and peeked in to see the reassuring scene of them sleeping peacefully. She left the door open as she turned to go down the stairs.

She stopped on the fourth step to see a man in a red cloak serving himself a drink. She gave a wide smile as she jumped to the ground, skipping the other three steps.

"You scared me ya'know." She said in a light tone.

"Mhm." He replied.

She walked over to the sink and started to finish up the unwashed dishes from yesterday. While washing a cup she looked up and asked, "Hey where's Yuffie? I'm kinda surprised she isn't with you."

He gave a bland look behind Tifa. Tifa turned around and gave a laugh. "Hello great ninja Yuffie."

"You didn't even know I was there!" she said in an exited tone. She went on and on about the journey Vincent and her went on as Tifa looked back down to continue washing. Tifa went into semi-listening mode for Yuffie's long stories... as usual... but her ears perked when she heard the name "Cloud."

"That Cloud, how's he doing?" Yuffie said.

"Good, I suppose." She said. But she didn't know how he was doing, and she said that just to reassure herself. She missed him. It's been more than a month since she last saw him.

Why can't she get over this uneasy feeling? Shouldn't she be used to it by now? Cloud making deliveries was usual, yet she can't seem to adjust to him gone. Honestly, she always feels uneasy with Cloud. Even if he was standing right next to her. It just felt like she was always looking at him from afar. Watching him, not doing anything to engage a conversation with him.

_If it was Aeris, she would be constantly talking to him. _She thought. She looked down at the dish she was washing. She stared blankly at it for a while. _His... flower girl. Why can't I be more like her? She's innocent, reassuring, beautiful, graceful, petit, and rare. Aeris is a healer, a great healer in fact. She's angel-like. But I... I'm a busty tom-boy. Loud, strong, and... and..._ She couldn't think of anything else. Compared to Aeris she was nothing.

"Hellllooooo?" Yuffie said, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Can you hear me?"

She shook her head quickly and replied, "Sorry, I'm just tired." She gave a small smile.

She turned back to washing the dishes with the same blank look. Vincent looked at her with a concerned glance with his glass at his lips. He saw the sadness in her face. _What did that Cloud do to her now?_ He thought.

Tifa finished with the dishes and walked over to the door to open it. She flipped the sign outside from "Closed" to "Open". She went back behind the counter to get the black menus and set them on each table. Vincent watched her with his onyx eyes. Something was up. He knew it.

The laughter of children filled the stiff atmosphere. Yuffie's face brightened as she exclaimed to Tifa that she was going to go up and play with the kids. Tifa gave a laugh and smiled an "Okay".

She went to go put salt and pepper on the tables and felt Vincent's eyes burning into her. She threw her head up and simply said "What do you want" in a joking sigh. He looked back down and grunted, "Nothing. Continue." Tifa continued with her work as she went back behind the counter, yet again.

Tifa put the now dried dishes under the sink when she heard the door open. Vincent casually looked to the door as Tifa stood up quickly to welcome the customer. While she stood up she didn't notice the nail sticking out of the counter, which caught onto her left arm and gashed it open.

She winced and quickly covered it with her right hand in pain. Her eyes filled with tears and she closed them in shock as Vincent jumped up with a concerned look and ran towards her. She heard the sound of running boots come towards her. She looked up surprised. She saw those sky blue eyes looking at her with great apprehension, as well as Vincent's red ones.

Vincent grabbed got down on one knee and grabbed her shoulders. She looked up at Cloud again, trying to force a smile. The muscles around her eyes and mouth twitched in pain as she smiled.

She giggled and said in a forced happy voice, "That hurt. Hey Cloud, welcome home."

"Why are you always smiling?!" yelled Vincent. "Look at your arm dammit!"

Cloud looked at her. Unable to speak. His eyes searched her face and arm, showing worry.

"It's fine it's fine," said Tifa in a calm tone, still looking at her arm, sweat rolling down the sides of her face from the hard work in trying to keep a smile.

_Why can't I help her? _Thought Cloud. _What do I do?! What am I supposed to do? _Cloud looked down at Vincent and once again furrowed his eyebrows angrily. _I want to be the one holding her, asking her if she's okay. Why am I always late in helping her. Why can't I can't save her from pain._


End file.
